Daughter of a Dead Woman (Extended Edition)
by Avery Taylor
Summary: The young princess did not move a muscle in fear of damaging the fragile bundle. But this bundle—she trusted Leia instantly, settling in the makeshift cradle of the seven-year-old's lap and looking contentedly up into her identical brown eyes. And suddenly—in that moment—all Leia wanted to do for the rest of her life was to earn that trust. (completely new take on original)
1. Prologue

_To The Reader:_

_This marks the beginning of Daughter of a Dead Woman - Extended Edition. _

_If you have not read my original Daughter of a Dead Woman, I won't spoil anything but if you have you should know that this story is not just edited. Most of it will resemble the original but we are visiting new places, meeting new people, and filling in plot gaps. The answers that were found before might not be the same here. The original was very unaware of itself and quite campy in the beginning, so I will be trying a darker tone and focusing on truly capturing the canon characters and universe in a more realistic manor. _

_I ask that if you have read the original Daughter of a Dead Woman, please do not spoil anything in reviews. You might not even be right anymore - a lot has changed._

_I have an acting background and, since I enjoy is so much, I will be providing dramatic readings of this FanFiction on my YouTube channel that I made specifically for this purpose. The channel is "Tess Naberrie" which you can find just by typing that name into the YouTube search bar. I will provide links to the videos at the start of the chapter if an audio reading is available._

_Comments are appreciated, and fuel my inspiration!_

* * *

_Audio reading available for Chapters 1-2 on YouTube:_

_ watch?v=iNMqXuv2ADw_

* * *

**Prologue**

A simple piece of japor wood, carved into an hourglass shape and strung onto a leather cord. A trinket of some sentimental value, no doubt, though somewhat out of place in the hands of Naboo royalty. Were the etched black symbols a name? A phrase? No one seemed to know where it came from, only that she had kept it since her teen years.

The cerulean waters of Naboo darkened in mourning of the queen and senator. The entire planet seemed to dim for her funeral procession. Men, women, and children alike shed tears for the beloved leader, even though the majority had never seen her in person until her lifeless form was brought through the streets.

Everyone grieved her.

With that in mind, the crime was baffling. Who, in their right mind, would have the audacity to steal the dead body of Padmé Amidala?

The event took over the HoloNet. Images of the woman who was just as beautiful as she was kind, with reporters narrating their thoughts on the matter. Some assumed it was a ruse to bring people to oppose the Empire somehow. Maybe she wasn't even dead—rather, in hiding with the child she was pregnant with at the time of her supposed death. In her life, Amidala had survived several assassination attempts. Perhaps there was a "dead or alive" bounty on her head, and someone came to collect.

No one reached a sure conclusion—at least not one that was released to the public.

And the disappearance of Padmé Amidala remained a mystery.


	2. Alderaan

**Alderaan**

* * *

**19 BBY**

His eyelids growing heavy, Bail Organa watched his three-week-old daughter sleep on his chest. Little Leia's sparse dark hair stuck straight up, and her head tilted upwards towards his face. She had fallen asleep looking at him, crinkling her little eyebrows in deep thought, making the diamond-shaped baby rash on her forehead contort into various shapes.

Bail's wife Breha nestled against his shoulder with a contented sigh.

"Am I crazy…or does she look like you a little?"

Bail playfully mimicked Leia's face, eyes pinched shut and mouth hanging open. The Queen giggled.

"Oh, we need another one," she sighed. Bail tensed a moment, and his wife noticed. "Breathe, my love. Not now. Someday."

Now, that sounded better. Bail smiled, imagining Leia at age eight or nine, peeking into a crib and grasping the finger of a little brother or sister.

Then he remembered who Leia really was. What had happened to her birth mother. The pulsing threat that he could still feel looming over them. Would another child be safe? Could he afford the balance of protection he would have to devote to each one, or would he spend their childhood expecting danger around every corner? What kind of father would he be if the latter were the case?

"Another little princess…" Breha said, a mixture of warmth and longing in her voice as she reached for Leia's tiny hand. "I've always saw myself with two girls."

Before bringing Leia into their home, Bail would have imagined himself with a son. He grew up with so many sisters; he had always felt like he was drowning in estrogen growing up.

But being a brother was not like being a father. Bail looked into Leia's eyes and from the moment he first held her, he knew that this little girl had his heart. He had never experienced a love like the kind he felt for the newborn baby on his chest. She was his princess and his world.

Suddenly, another little princess didn't sound so bad.

"Tess…" Breha whispered with a smile.

"Hm?"

"Her name," the queen clarified. "Do you like it?"

"Well, you've sure got this all planned," Bail chuckled.

"Just being prepared—this one probably won't come with a name."

"It suits her, though, doesn't it?"

"Oh, yes. She's a little Leia for sure."

_Tess…_ Bail thought. He kind of liked it. Not quite as much as Leia, but he liked it.

* * *

**16 BBY**

"Where's Mama?" asked the toddler on Bail's knee, pointing to the picture of Breha on his desk. It was at least the fifth time she had asked today, and they had not even had breakfast.

"She's not here, Lelila," the man sighed. She wasn't—and she hadn't been for almost a week now. After months in the hospital, dozens of medical droids and humanoids alike, so much wishing and praying to the Force and the gods and anything Bail could think of with the power to save his wife—she was gone.

Leia's third birthday had fallen the day after Breha's death. A party was planned at the castle months in advance for her, but when the Queen fell ill, it all just slipped from everyone's mind. Leia was three years old—she didn't notice. But Bail did. And along with the overwhelming guilt that there was something he could have done for his wife, he now felt like he was neglecting his daughter.

Bail had avoided the toddler since Breha's death, but today he dismissed her caregivers and let the girl's warm and carefree presence give him comfort.

Leia squirmed in Bail's lap until he released her and set her down on the floor. He just had a few letters to read and then his day was free. The child circled around his desk, entertaining herself while Bail came across a letter he almost missed.

"Sola Naberrie," he read aloud.

"Sola Nabee-bee," Leia chanted in response. "Sola Nabee-bee-bee-bee-bee… Daddy!"

"Yes, Leia," Bail replied.

"Look!" Leia hung on to the edge of the desk and lifted her feet off the ground, suspending herself in the air for a moment and giggling at her accomplishment.

"I see—wow! You're so strong!"

Bail's eyes fell back on the letter from Sola, Padme's sister.

_Leia's aunt, _he thought to himself.

The loss of his wife had surely heightened his interest in the search for Padme's stolen body that had been going on for three years now. In the first year, he had sent some of his own people to help in the cause and had donated funds to it as well. Then, in the following years, as Leia became a rambunctious toddler that kept himself and Breha on their toes every day, the fund kind of slipped his mind.

As far as the public knew, Padme's body was found a few months prior to its disappearance and laid to rest in a more secure mausoleum that was built for her during the search. Only the royal family of Naboo, Bail, and a few trustworthy leaders in the galaxy knew that she was still missing.

Bail scanned the letter from Sola. The typical condolences concerning his wife, well-wishes, the "if you shall ever need anything from us"…

_You've done more than we can ever repay you for, but we hope one day you will let us try._

_Thank you for everything,_

_Sola Naberrie_

Little did Sola know, her sister had already given Bail the world through his little Leia. It was he who owed a debt to the Naberrie family. And in that moment, he made a promise to himself that he would _never _stop looking until Padme Naberrie was found.

* * *

**11 BBY**

"You ready?"

"Almost!" replied an eight-year-old Leia Organa. She quickly bounced onto her bed and crossed her legs. "Alright, I'm ready!"

Leia's bedroom door clicked open. In walked a short woman with graying red hair and kindly green eyes. Inaura Fotel—Leia's tutor.

"Hmm…" the woman contemplated, scanning the room. "Where could it be?"

"I'm not telling," said Leia with a cheeky grin.

It was part of her lessons, though it felt more like a game. Leia would hide her tutor's bracelet somewhere in the room, and Inaura would one chance to guess where it was.

The girl watched the older woman probe each corner of the room with her eyes. When she thought her teacher was not looking, Leia shot a look at her top dresser drawer. But she got caught.

"Leia, dear…" Inaura sighed. "You're not focusing, sweetheart. Don't think about where it is, or I'll know." She opened the drawer and reached her hand in, expecting to find the necklace.

"Got you!" the princess exclaimed. She hopped off her bed and crossed the room to her window, where the bracelet was hiding behind the curtain. She held it up triumphantly.

Surprised, Inaura just stared at the girl for a moment.

"I could have sworn…" her voice trailed off in bewilderment. "Good job!"

The little princess returned the bracelet to its rightful owner.

"It's not that hard," she shrugged. "I don't know why Daddy and Winter can never play it right."

Leia sat down at her desk and brushed aside various drawings and scribbles.

"Can we do history next?" the princess asked her tutor. But the drawings had caught Inaura's eye.

"What's this?" she asked, picking up two from the top. In the first, a blonde boy stood at the center, with two big yellow circles above his head. In the second, a woman with long, dark hair was lying down in flowers.

"Dreams," Leia explained shortly, pulling her history book out from under the drawings. Her expression worried her teacher and the woman set a hand on the brunette's shoulder.

"Is something wrong, sweetheart?"

Leia bit her lip. She had been trying not to think about it. How almost everything she dreamt felt so real. Ever since her dream of Winter tripping on the stairs and spraining her wrist came true, the princess feared she herself was causing the creations of her unconscious mind to become reality. When she had the dream about Winter, she did not even remember it until her best friend was injured in real life. With her drawings, Leia tried to remember every dream. Maybe she could prevent them from occurring if she remembered.

"Leia?" Inaura nudged the girl gently, kneeling beside her and taking her hands. "Listen. You are an extremely special little girl, okay? And I know you sometimes feel some things that you don't understand, but that's normal. That's why I'm here. I know about these feelings you get."

"Do you have dreams, too?" asked Leia in a small voice.

"I do," the woman replied. "And they can be scary. And Leia, these feelings we get, they have the power to help people. But they can also be kind of dangerous. You know why?"

Leia shook her head.

"Because people who have powers like us," Inaura continued. "Some of them are bad. And just like I sometimes know where the bracelet is, sometimes they know where people like you and I are if they are close. You'll learn to sense when they are close, too. Now, we're strong. And one day we can fight them. But right now is the time to hide."

"Like the bracelet?"

"Yes, dear," the woman replied. "Like the bracelet. But we'll work on that some other time." Inaura gently tucked a strand of hair behind Leia's ear and handed her back the pictures. "Keep these. One day—maybe tomorrow, or maybe years from now—these dreams of yours will make sense."

* * *

_Leia squinted under the bright white lights at first, then the small room came into view. There was a woman lying on a table. Ringlets of dark hair much like Leia's framed her face, and her eyes fluttered open. She sighed dreamily and something compelled the eight-year-old to grasp the woman's hand._

_"It's going to be alright…" Leia heard herself say. Only then did she notice a boy. A familiar blonde boy in beige clothing, holding the woman's other hand. Though he was in the same room, it felt like he was in another world. Like two intersecting paths that were not meant to be crossed. His eyes fell nervously on her swollen stomach._

_"You're having a baby?" asked the boy. The woman, who focused on neither child in particular, lurched forward in pain._

_"Ahhh!" she cried. Leia watched her knuckles turn white as the pregnant woman squeezed her hand hard. "No…" the woman panted. "No, no, no, NO, NO! Not like this! I already—AH!"_

_The woman lurched forward, sending the children forward as well. Both stumbled to the ground on either side of the medical bed, and as they threw their hands back to catch themselves, the boy's hand fell on top of Leia's._

_The two froze. For the first time, they locked eyes. _

_"Let me go…please, let me go…" they heard the woman say. "I'm done…let me go…"_

_And then bright blue bolts surged down her legs. She screamed as the lightening traveled up the rest of her body, never ceasing like a single strike would but instead remaining a constant surge. _

_The lightening engulfed the room and the smell of burnt flesh seemed to wrap a cord around Leia's neck. _

_The woman's cries._

_The boy's cries._

_Leia's own cries, sounding miles away._

_And…another's…?_

* * *

Leia's bedroom slowly faded into view as she awoke. But no matter how many times she blinked herself into heavier consciousness, she could still hear the crying. It sounded like it was coming from outside.

Leia draped her legs over her bed and placed her feet on the ground. She crossed to the locked balcony door, where she could still hear the crying. She squinted at the courtyard, looking for the source of the noise.

The eight-year-old quickly ran to her dresser, opened a drawer and pulled out one of her hairpins to unlock the balcony door. Within seconds she had it open and leaned over the fence, searching the courtyard again. She could still hear the crying. It sounded like a baby.

Then she noticed a figure entering the courtyard with a bundle in his arms as the cries grew closer. She soon recognized the head of dark hair and the long blue robe.

"Daddy!" she whispered to herself. He had been away on business for what seemed to her like forever. Quickly Leia closed and locked the balcony door, then bolted out of her room. She went down the dark hallway and sat behind the railing at the top of the stairs just as her father walked in. She could now see that the bundle in his arms was a wailing baby. Leia wondered whether she would get in trouble if she ran to greet him.

Inaura met him in the foyer.

"Bail, why did you bring her here? You'll wake Leia!"

"Come into the living room," Bail requested, still trying to comfort the child in his arms. The frightened infant's howling began to quiet down, as if it was relieved to be brought indoors.

Once they were out of sight, Leia tip-toed down the spiral staircase, carefully stepping over each step that creaked.

"Bail, this wasn't supposed to happen until two weeks from now," Inny said in a low voice.

Leia made it down the stairs and crouched out of sight in a corner just outside the living room, listening closely.

"There was a…disturbance," Bail explained. "We had to leave. I'll explain further at a later time, but we have to change the plan. You won't be here. I'm sending you to Dantooine with her. There's a Czerka G-Wing Light Shuttle waiting for you. There's a cottage—"

"What?! Bail—"

"I wouldn't ask if I didn't think it was absolutely necessary," Bail said seriously. "Life or death."

Inny paused.

"For who?"

"For her."

Leia craned her head to get a peek at the couch where father and tutor sat. Bail, still holding the child with one hand, placed his other on top of Inaura's.

"I wish it didn't have to be this way," he sighed.

"I thought we had time…"

"I know… I did, too."

Inaura bowed her head, looking at Bail's hand on top of her own. She closed her eyes. Inhaled sharply, then let out a long exhale.

"Just let me say goodbye to Leia."

"NO!" Leia cried out. Now she didn't care if they saw her. The girl raced into her tutor's arms and hugged her around the neck. "Please don't go! Please! I'll do all my chores, all my lessons, I'll—"

"Hush, my dear, it's alright," Inaura whispered, pulling the small child into her lap. The baby began to cry again.

The eight-year-old princess shot a resentful glare at the child in her father's arms. She didn't understand the situation, but from what she had observed she felt this baby was replacing her and taking her beloved tutor. So why did she feel the way she did, looking at the newborn's little face?

"Who is she?" queried Leia in a tiny voice. She inched out of her tutor's lap to sit between Inaura and her father, getting a closer look at the baby.

"She's…" Bail trailed off, and his daughter watched him exchange glances with Inaura. "Her name is Tess. She is going to live with Inaura from now on."

"Why?"

"Because she needs someone to protect her," Bail clarified.

Tufts of curly dark hair sprouted from the baby's head, and her wide tear-puffed eyes stared intently at the older child. A tiny hand found its way out of the swaddled blanket around it and Leia, without thinking, reached out to take it into her own. Bail gently placed the newborn baby in her arms.

The young princess did not move a muscle in fear of damaging the fragile bundle. But this bundle—she trusted Leia instantly, settling in the makeshift cradle of the eight-year-old's lap and looking contentedly up into her identical brown eyes. And suddenly—in that moment—all Leia wanted to do for the rest of her life was to earn that trust.

"I could protect her."

Bail, touched by his daughter's sincerity, kissed the top of the child's head.

"Little girls shouldn't have to worry about that," he insisted.

"I will take good care of her," promised Inaura.

As Leia looked at her tutor's teary green eyes, she remembered that this meant Inaura had to leave. Sensing the two needed a moment for farewells, Bail relieved his daughter of the newborn. The princess stifled the approaching tears as long as she could.

"Will I ever see you again?"

"I don't know," Inny told her honestly.

"That's not a yes."

"No…it isn't."

Leia wiped away tears with the sleeve of her nightgown.

"I don't want you to go."

Inaura reached out and Leia fell into her arms, letting the woman rock her back and forth like she had done many a time when the princess was not much bigger than baby Tess.

"Shh…there's no need for tears…" Inaura assured the girl, though she couldn't help shedding a few herself. "You always find the bracelet, what makes you think you can't find me if you need me someday?"

For several minutes Inaura let the eight-year-old cry, but finally it came time for Inaura to take the baby.

Still so confused but without the proper questions to ask, Leia clung to her father and listened to the shuttle outside take off.


End file.
